Office of Environmental Management (EM)

Construction of the Mercury Treatment Facility at the Department of Energy’s Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee will ceremonially begin next Monday with assistance from two U.S. lawmakers. Scheduled to attend the 10 a.m. Nov. 20 groundbreaking ceremony are Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouilette, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.). The […]

A Nov. 9 article in Weapons Complex Morning Briefing incorrectly indicated Kevin Hall had been manager of the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) in Tennessee. Hall, now president at Juno Management Professionals, served as manager of the Office of Science Integrated Support Center at Oak Ridge.

The Hanford Advisory Board is calling for the Department of Energy to ramp up to $4 billion in annual spending at the Hanford Site in Washington state, despite DOE officials saying that will not happen. A combination of operating the Waste Treatment Plant starting within five years from now while construction continues on parts of […]

Centrus Energy said Thursday its net loss decreased and its revenue grew during the third quarter ended Sept. 30. The Bethesda, Md.-based uranium enrichment company reported a net loss of $8.5 million for the quarter, well below the $41.3 million net loss for the third quarter of 2016. Net loss connected to common stockholders was […]

The Department of Energy has picked Delmar Noyes as the assistant manager for Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant startup, commissioning, and integration, effective Nov. 12. He will support integration of the waste storage tank farm and the Waste Treatment Plant to assure close coordination during startup and commissioning of Hanford’s tank waste treatment facilities and […]

Acting Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management (EM) James Owendoff was scheduled to meet with Washington state Department of Ecology Director Maia Bellon on Thursday, at least in part to discuss ideas about speeding up progress on construction of the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) at the Hanford Site, a state official confirmed. The visit follows […]

A visual inspection of the Hanford Site’s oldest double-shell waste tank has found at least seven leaks from the inner shell. The Department of Energy confirmed in 2012 that Tank AY-102 had a slow leak from its inner shell into the space between its shells. No waste is believed to have breached the outer shell […]

Dennis Wilson has been elected as the new chairman of the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB) in Tennessee for fiscal 2018. The panel of up to 22 members makes recommendations to DOE regarding operations at the Oak Ridge Reservation, home to a large-scale cleanup of former uranium enrichment operations. ORSSAB held […]

The Government Accountability Office would like federal agencies to increase their collaboration on research into low-dose radiation, and it has recommended the Energy Department lead such an effort. But DOE hasn’t been eager to assume such a role, the GAO said in a Nov. 1 report. People who work at nuclear power plants, defense waste […]

The Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor faces a $320,000 penalty after being cited by the Department of Energy for retaliating against an employee who reported a safety issue. The Energy Department issued a preliminary notice of violation (PNOV) to Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) on Wednesday. The violation, according to the department, occurred when […]

More days have passed than remain in astronomical autumn, which means Los Alamos National Security could soon announce the interim Los Alamos National Laboratory director who will replace the retiring Charles McMillan and run the site until the company’s contract expires Sept. 30, 2018. McMillan, who has led Los Alamos National Laboratory for about six […]

Ralph Holland, deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and project management for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), plans to retire at the end of December. Holland, who assumed responsibility for the EM Consolidated Business Center in Cincinnati in August 2015, has served in a number of management posts within DOE over the past […]

Michael Kluse, former director of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state, has joined the Longenecker & Associates strategic advisory board. Currently a consultant, Kluse headed PNNL, operated by Battelle for the Department of Energy, from January 2007 through March 2015. While heading the national laboratory, he was also a senior vice president for […]

If it holds up under protest, the $4.7 billion contract for liquid waste management at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina will provide BWX Technologies with one of its bigger wins as a prime contractor in recent years, executives said during a quarterly call on Tuesday. But management said it would […]

The U.S. Energy Department confirmed Tuesday that the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has finished treating 60 potentially combustible containers of radioactive waste, ending ahead of the latest targeted date and setting the stage for the next phase of nitrate salt processing. The drums contained a mix of remediated nitrate salts and organic […]

Third-quarter earnings for Virginia-based BWX Technologies showed big gains in both revenue and earnings per share compared to the same period a year ago. In an earnings release after market close on Monday, the Department of Energy contractor reported third-quarter 2017 revenue of $419 million, a 10.5 percent increase from $380 million in the third […]

The Hanford Advisory Board will meet Wednesday and Thursday for the first time since June. The meeting, previously scheduled for September, was delayed until Department of Energy officials in Washington, D.C., approved letters of appointment and reappointment for about half of the board’s members. Without the approval, the board did not have a quorum to […]

The Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state has for the first time shipped tank waste off-site for treatment and disposal. Three gallons of low-activity radioactive waste were sent in October to a nearby Perm-Fix Environmental Services facility to be grouted. It is then expected to be sent for disposal at the Waste Control Specialists […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology has opened an investigation after being notified by the contractor for the Hanford Site’s waste tank farm that some liquid had been poured into the soil in central Hanford in August. The liquid was in four used containers that had sat out in the weather for a couple years […]

The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved two Trump administration nominees to the Energy Department by voice vote. Mark Wesley Menezes of Virginia was approved to be undersecretary for the Department of Energy. Also approved was Paul Dabbar of New York to be undersecretary for science. Most recently, Menezes worked as vice president of federal relations […]

Two bidding groups have filed protests with the Government Accountability Office over the new contract for liquid waste management at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. One of the protests submitted on Tuesday was filed for the AECOM-CH2M Savannah River Technology and Remediation LLC by an attorney with the law firm […]

Fluor, one of the major contractors in the Department of Energy complex, on Thursday reported a significant earnings spike for the third quarter of 2017. The international construction and engineering firm reported quarterly net earnings of $94 million, or $0.67 per diluted share, compared to just shy of $5 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, […]

Centrus Energy said Monday it has signed a $16 million contract to continue for another year its research and development of advanced gas centrifuge uranium enrichment technology at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee. However, the company’s time in at least one Oak Ridge facility is nearing its end as […]

The Department of Energy and its Central Plateau cleanup contractor at the Hanford Site have appealed a fine and order by the Washington state Department of Ecology over an unidentified white powder found on the floor and equipment of the PUREX processing plant. The plutonium extraction plant was closed down in the 1980s, with periodic […]

Two bidding groups have filed protests with the Government Accountability Office over the new contract for liquid waste management at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. A group led by AECOM and a team led by Fluor have filed protests, two sources said. The GAO confirmed Wednesday that it had received […]

The Washington River Protection Solutions’ (WRPS) project to empty a Hanford Site double-shell waste tank with an interior leak has been named the 2017 Project of the Year by the Project Management Institute. “Washington River Protection Solutions was able to establish and follow sound project management practices that allowed its challenging and potentially dangerous project […]

The Department of Energy has acknowledged that contractor Bechtel National has met all of the criteria required to resume construction on parts of the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant’s High-Level Waste Facility that have been on hold since 2012. However, DOE also pointed out in a statement Friday that its focus is on preparing to […]

Dayton, Ohio-based Ardent Technologies has been awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) support services contract from the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) that could be worth up to $4 million. The contract, which is for three years, calls for Ardent to provide support services – such as information technology, server management, and cybersecurity […]

The Santa Fe City Council is urging the U.S. Energy Department and New Mexico Environment Department to “strengthen” a 2016 consent order governing cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and also suspend any expanded plutonium pit production at the site “until safety issues are resolved.” The resolution, passed Oct. 25, calls for additional characterization […]

Recently obtained email messages indicate the Department of Justice might be investigating time-card issues involving the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) project at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The investigation follows two settlements in recent years for alleged time-card fraud at the Hanford waste tank farms. An email sent on July 27 […]